Marie-Antoinette’s Herbarium by Elisabeth de
Feydeau

Fragrances

Marie-Antoinette was probably one of the most controversial queen in history. Some people loved her, others hated her. But above all, she was a passionate woman, exploring all the wonders of the “Century of the lights”, Les Lumières. Elisabeth de Feydeau, Ph D. in history and Perfumes / scents expert, published L’Herbier de Marie-Antoinette (The Herbarium of Marie-Antoinette). What can we say about this book? Well, it describes an interesting facet of the French-Austrian Queen: her passion for her royal gardens. This book represents an imaginary herbarium that the Queen herself could have made. It is based in several historical documents from National archives and the plans of the architect Richard Mique. This narration reveals the importance of naturalism during the 18th Century but also the personality of one of the most amazing Queens in history: Marie-Antoinette. The 18th century, the enlightenment, saw incredible advance in philosophy and science. Men got interested in what surrounded him and try to understand the significations and the reasons why. It was also the highlight of Botany and a naturalism trend grew during the entire century. Gardens became places, not only for lea sure, but also to free the mind. A true link between men and nature.

The Mall in St. James’s Park – T.Gainsborough

People enjoy walking and spending time in Gardens. We open the forests and parks. Spaces of freedom that allow more fantasies and lightness. When the king Louis XVI offered the Petit Trianon to his Queen Marie-Antoinette, he offered to her the freedom she was looking for. Far away from the golden prison of Versailles and its court, Marie-Antoinette transformed the ancient property of Madame de Pompadour into a magical place.

Louis N. de Lespinasse, Cupid temple

In 1778, Marie-Antoinette’s garden was finished and she could enjoy peaceful moments. All the art of Antoine Richard, Royal Gardner, was to create the most amazing garden and yet, all was supposed to look as natural as possible. In Elisabeth de Feydeau’s book, we can dive into this amazing atmosphere. We can also get some hints of the queen’s complex personality and life. Ripped from childhood too soon, brought into one of the most complex royal courts in Europe at that time, Marie-Antoinette craved for escapism. And her garden was the perfect place for that. She was also passionate about Fragrances and scents, as she had her personal perfumer Jean-Louis Fargeon. She learns all the scented plants and improve her knowledge for botany. The book itself it is very beautiful. Illustrated as a herbarium, we can discover more than 60 plants and flowers that we could see at the Queen’s gardens. Every time you discover a new page, it is a true delight to read extracts of personal mail between the Queen and her friends. We also get some information about where the different plants were presented in the garden. For many of them, the queen and her perfumer were making fragrances and pomades. For example the Blue Cornflower (p.172-173). we could read that this plant was used to fight some eye diseases. By making a distillation of it, we would get a scented water called “breaking glasses” because it was know to strengthen the eyes. Under the direction of Alain Baraton, responsible for the royal gardens of Trianon, Elisabeth de Feydeau opens a very interesting window into personal moments of Marie-Antoinette. If you want to purchase this book, available for the moment in french, here are 2 addresses: L’Herbier de Marie-Antoinette Editons Flammarion Recommended Retail price: 35€ 240 pages http://www.amazon.fr/LHerbier-Marie-Antoinette-Elisabeth-Feydeau/dp/2706600721http://livre.fnac.com/a4239952/Elisabeth-de-Feydeau-L-herbier-de-Marie-Antoinette This book was also supported by the company Firmenich, famous international Fragrance house. They developed for many years a state of art in terms of scented plants knowledge. The Firmenich Perfumer’s palette is considered to be one of the most complete, creative and qualitative of the market. It was natural then to see this company linked to such project. To learn more about Elisabeth de Feydeau, here are some interesting links:

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